WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs News And Notes

Published on December 29, 2009 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


ROSTER UPDATE...The Chiefs have added two players to their roster after the Holiday break; 16-year-old Mike Aviani from North Vancouver, BC and 15-year-old Reid Gow from Killarney, Manitoba.

Gow will make his WHL debut on Tuesday night in Portland. He was named to the first ever Western Canada U-16 Challenge Cup All-Star team in November while helping Team Manitoba earn a silver medal. In four tournament games, the defenseman had one goal, one assist and four penalty minutes. The 5'11", 175-lb rearguard is currently a member of the Southwest Cougars of the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League and in 18 games has scored five goals and 18 points and is tied for the team lead.

Aviani was Spokane's fifth round selection in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft and has scored 18 goals and 30 points in 23 games with the Grandview Steelers of the Pacific International Junior Hockey League. Aviani appeared in one game, September 19th at Prince George, this season.

Factoring in the five players away for tournaments and an injury to defenseman Garrett Leedahl, the Chiefs have 20 bodies available for their four road games in six nights this week.

Gow and Aviani are the 14th and 15th players on the Chiefs roster that have been selected by Spokane in the Bantam Draft.

TEAM PACIFIC FALLS IN OPENER...After scoring the first two goals of the game Team Pacific gave up six straight to Russia in a loss in their opener of the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge in Timmins, Ontario. The Chiefs' Mitch Holmberg and Brady Brassart are playing for Team Pacific. Pacific outshot the Russians 48-28.

WORLD JUNIOR UPDATE...In their first two games of the World Junior tournament, Jared Cowen's Team Canada has outscored the opposition 22-0 with two games remaining in pool play; Tuesday night versus Slovakia and New Year's Eve against Tyler Johnson and Team USA. The United States moved to 3-0 on Tuesday with a 12-1 win over Latvia. Johnson scored his first goal of the tournament in the win.

Stefan Ulmer and Team Austria are 0-3 in pool play with one game remaining against Finland on Wednesday. Ulmer has one assist.

KILLER DUDE...The Chiefs are the top team in the WHL with a penalty kill percentage of 86.3. Spokane is 98-108 (90.7%) on the penalty kill in their last 25 games.

MILLER TIME...Kenton Miller has one goal and five points in a four game point scoring streak. It is his second longest of the season after he had three goals and six points in a five game streak in October.

BARDARO BLITZ...Anthony Bardaro followed up his first career WHL goal on December 18th with his second the following game on December 27th against Portland. Bardaro has two goals and three points in his last four games.

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from December 29, 2009


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